Student of the Strongest Empire
by kurikun
Summary: AU, Series of oneshots. Through a series of lucky events, Sena enters Teikoku Gakuen.  Then he meets Yamato Takeru, and is subsequently drafted into the American Football team.


Disclaimer: I do not own Eyeshield 21.

* * *

Student of the Strongest Empire

Sena

* * *

Sena gasped for breath outside the entrance for Teikoku Gakuen. The closest subway exit had been closed due to an unfortunate accident, so he had run all the way to the school from the next closest exit, and he very dearly didn't want to be late. He was coming in a week later than all the other students anyway, but that was because the vice-principle had pulled a few strings to even get him accepted.

Sena had inadvertently saved an old grandmother from getting hit by two cars by accidentally tackling her before she crossed the street (he had been scrambling for an escape from bat-wielding bullies after dropping the cartons of eggs he had been ordered to bring to them), and she was the vice-principle's sister. After it turned out that both drivers died in the crash, the woman had been _very _thankful.

Sena still had to take the entrance exam, but after learning of the possibility that her slightly dim-witted son would be allowed to go to somewhere so prestigious as Teikoku, Sena's mother did everything she could short of blackmail to get Anezaki Mamori to tutor her son. Tutoring, of course, would be too kind a word in Sena's mind—methodical torture fitted much better, but he could never gather enough courage to say that to Mamori's or his mother's face when they were only trying to help (and had many pens, pencils, and heavy books nearby).

Still managing to get a score much lower than the average accepted score, the vice-principle then had to curry enough favor with the admissions staff and the principle in order to get Sena accepted. Finally, he was just given a small stipulation where he needed to maintain a certain grade-point average and join a club. Getting that far had taken about a week, and Sena was still unsure about how he felt about going to Teikoku. Mamori had already been going to Deimon for a year (despite Teikoku Gakuen being one of the most well-known schools around, it was still in Kansai, and her parents were practical. Sena's parents were desperate.), and he knew absolutely no one else. Thankfully, that also meant that his usual bullies wouldn't be at Teikoku, so he would have a fresh new start.

Walking by an ornate fountain with strangely carved… horse-fish, Sena got a good look at his new school.

The grounds were _huge_. People walked by in clumps, laughing with each other and carrying smart-looking book bags. And then a ball whizzed by his head.

"I-I'm so sorry, are you all right?" A very pretty girl ran over to him, dressed in a sports uniform. Shakily, Sena handed her the ball, nodding. He swallowed thickly. If he hadn't dodged, that ball would probably have broken his nose.

"Che, whatever. Hurry up already!" Another person wearing the sports uniform said, annoyed.

"Don't speak to Karin that way!" A large man, stocky and well-built, yelled at the other man.

Another player frowned through his headpiece. "That should have been your catch, Goro-kun. Still…" He turned to stare at Sena. Sena smiled at him a bit feebly. That player had just pushed through three people with one hand.

"Ah, it-it's all right. Thank you," the girl, Karin, said, bowing to Sena. Then she ran back with the ball.

Quickly dropping the gaze of the strong player, Sena looked around, noticing that the large team of players were just practicing on the school's front yard. Did they do that every morning? A bunch of them seemed to be trying to throw each other down. A few boys were lying on the ground, heavily gasping for breath. Sena shivered. That definitely wasn't his kind of sport.

He hurried to class.

--

He was doomed to be bullied forever—this had to be a sign. As soon as he had been let out for lunch, an astute pair of bullies stood up and cornered Sena, demanding he get them lunches from the canteen unless he would rather be beaten up. It was only luck that Sena had already passed by the cafeteria on his way to class, and so knew the way. As he ran, Sena thought to himself that the only thing different at Teikoku was that the bullies were smarter and much, much scarier.

Suddenly, someone thrust himself into Sena's path. "Hiiiee, sorry!" Sena called, hoping he didn't hit the person as he spun away.

Sena made it back to the bullies huffing and puffing, but at least there was still a lot of time left for lunch. "They're out of what you wanted," Sena wheezed. He had only left the boys waiting for a few minutes, hopefully they wouldn't bully him for coming back empty-handed.

"What!?" One of the boys bit out, incensed. "It's hardly been three minutes! There's no way you could have gone to the dining hall and back! You—" and then the other boy put his hand on his shoulder, silencing him. They shared a look that had Sena slowly backing away.

"Let's teach this shrimp a lesson in honesty," he sneered.

"W-what? No, no, I really did go!" Sena whimpered, stepping back. He had gone as fast as he could, in fact, doing his best to make a good impression. But as the bullies advanced, he remembered all the other bullies who had advanced the same way and the time afterward, when he was left alone nursing his wounds. He couldn't… he just couldn't let it end the same way this time. Not when his parents and the old lady and even the vice-principle had tried so hard for his sake. He needed to try hard, too. Sena took a deep breath. In this situation, the only thing he could do… was run.

--

"Hey, hey, he's getting away!"

The two bullies began to give chase. One of them bumped into someone.

"Hey, watch it!" The boy hissed angrily, ready to switch targets. The shrimp had probably already run to a teacher to hide or something, and he was itching to let up some pent up aggression. His friend tapped him on the shoulder nervously, but the other boy had already pulled back an arm to punch. After letting loose a wild roar, his fist shot forward.

The boy—a student, it looked like, although quite tall for his age—merely caught the punch calmly, still staring at Sena's retreating figure with an indecipherable look on his face. "Excuse me," he said slowly. "Are you the ones who made him run like that?"

The bully ripped his fist out of the boy's hand, now almost trembling with rage. "So what if we are!" He shouted. His friend continued to make nervous gestures, and finally the boy turned to him angrily.

"What!"

"That's… that's _Yamato_," he whispered frantically, a bit of sweat beginning to form on his forehead as Yamato turned to stare curiously at them. "You know—the football team's _ace_."

Yamato smiled slowly, seeming to understand the situation. "You shouldn't bully your betters."

--

The next day, Sena arrived quite early, determined to avoid any and all bullies throughout the day. It was actually a little easy, as the bullies seemed to make an effort to stay away from him. One of them kept shooting him a kind of squinting, frustrated look, while the other one just studiously ignored him. Still, at lunch Sena was the first to leave and sprinted out of the classroom. After covering a suitable distance, Sena started walking around, finally stopping near a marble bust of a man.

"That's Walter Camp, the creator of American Football." A voice said from behind Sena.

Sena jumped, turning around. There was only one person behind Sena, a tall boy who was holding his hand over his heart as though in deference to the statue. Sena stared at him curiously. He looked a bit familiar.

After a moment, the boy spoke. "You're fast. But…" His eyes trailed down to Sena's face, and then he smiled. "You can go faster." Sena looked at him blankly. A few seconds of silence went by. "Come here to practice after school today," the boy finally said, grinning resolutely, then began to walk away.

"…Wait, what?" Sena said, confused and a little apprehensive.

The boy turned back around. "Aren't you joining the American football club? You're fast enough…" He sounded cheerful, but there was some sort of hidden chord underneath. It sounded suspiciously like both a challenge and a threat, but Sena had never been good at reading subtlety.

"W-what, how? Why?"

"Oh, you're worried. It'll be all right." The boy smiled brilliantly at him. "You'll be in the first string in no time."

"No, what? I'm not--I'm not a part of…" Sena tried, but the boy had already walked away. The rest of Sena's denials died on his tongue. What had… just happened?

He went through the rest of the day in a daze, still unable to comprehend exactly what had happened. Still, at the end of the day he somehow found himself by the statue.

A couple of boys were lazing around near it. As soon as Sena approached, they seemed to perk up. "This 'im?" One of them said, jerking a finger at Sena.

The other boy squinted. "He matches the description…"

The first one threw a ball at Sena, the same kind of ball that had narrowly missed his face yesterday morning. Sena almost dodged it on instinct before realizing he was supposed to catch it. Fumbling, he managed to grasp it before it hit the ground.

The boy who threw the ball stared at Sena as though his catching ability had fatally wounded him. "…Is this really the guy who _Yamato_ recommended?" He asked his partner incredulously. His partner nodded, but didn't look so sure himself. The boy shook his head. "Whatever. Hey. Kid."

Sena looked at him uncertainly, wondering a bit nervously if this was another bully attempt.

But the boy smiled. "Get past us if you can."

Then they charged.

Sena stood still for a split second, not quite believing, and then his eyes met with one of the runners. He felt the sureness of their victory, suddenly synonymous with _pain pain pain_, and then he was _off_ like an explosion.

There were crowds of milling students, loitering around after a long school day, but Sena couldn't stop--he could hear a loud beat in his ears, a heavy thudding in his chest, and some shouting from a little ways a way. Holding the ball awkwardly in one hand, Sena raced through the campus, dodging people left and right at a sharp, frantic pace. He had no time to turn around, and there were too many people around for him to see exactly where he was going, so by the time he found a nice, empty niche behind one of the school's many buildings he knew almost immediately that he was lost.

Panting from his run, Sena looked up and saw someone walk by him. It was a boy with long hair, and he was just… staring. At him. He was staring a bit dispassionately, but it still unnerved Sena. Too many people seemed to be noticing him here, for some reason.

"You must be the one Yamato was talking about," the boy said, detached.

"Uh…" Sena had no idea who Yamato was, but the name sounded familiar. He wondered a bit nervously why someone would be talking about him.

Then the boy's eyes slid from Sena's face to where he was clumsily holding the ball. He frowned minutely. "…You hold it like this," he told Sena, miming a ball being held securely near the shoulder.

"O-Okay…?" Sena said weakly, trying it out. It did feel a little more secure. But this wasn't his ball, he realized with a start. He had accidentally carried it with him while running away. Glancing at it, Sena realized he wasn't exactly sure which sport team the ball belonged to, but it had a Teikoku insignia on it so it belonged to the school, at least.

The boy with long hair began to walk away. "W-wait!" Sena called, stuttering a bit. The boy turned back. "Um, do you know which club this ball belongs to?" Sena asked, a bit sheepishly. "I accidentally ran with it…"

The boy frowned again. He looked at Sena, then the ball he was carrying, then at Sena again. Then he seemed to realize something, and sighed deeply.

"Uh, is everything… okay?" Sena asked worriedly. "I haven't--It's not _stolen_, is it? I- I didn't mean to! I mean, they gave it to me, and then I ran, but I didn't know I had it with me! I mean, I didn't realize I was running with it, I knew they gave it to me but they didn't _give _it to me, I-I'll give it back, I'm sorry--"

"It's fine." The boy cut him off. He looked suddenly weary, as though a great burden had been placed on his shoulders. Sighing again, he shook his head. "Follow me."

Holding the ball in its new position, Sena followed meekly.

--

"Oh, there you are! I was about to go pick you up." The statue boy from lunch greeted them. Sena realized why he looked familiar; he was the same boy who had been practicing two mornings ago--the same boy who had pushed through three people with only his hand. Considering what he had been telling Sena about…

"…Is this the American Football team?" Sena asked.

"Yes!" The boy smiled brightly at him. "My name is Yamato Takeru; welcome to the Teikoku Alexanders."

Yamato… and the American football team. Someone recommending him, and an American football… Sena almost choked. But Yamato wasn't finished.

"Here, this is yours," Yamato said, dropping a small jersey on Sena's shoulder. He grinned at Sena, but his eyes were hard. "You're going to need to go faster than ever, Sena-kun. Teikoku needs you." Then he patted Sena's shoulder, pointed him somewhere, and walked a little ways away.

Sena couldn't move. Was he a part of the team now? How did Yamato-san know his name? _What was going on?_

Yamato looked over and frowned. "Aren't you changing, Sena-kun? I'm sorry, but you'll have to use the lower string locker room for now."

The boy with long hair who had led Sena here walked past him. "Just change. There's no stopping Yamato when he's set on something," he remarked dryly to Sena. Sena turned terrified eyes to him, but the boy just shrugged, walking away.

Gulping, Sena steeled himself. He still wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but it looked like he had been invited to a club. It had been one of the conditions of staying in Teikoku that he enter a club, he remembered. So, he should try it with an open mind. Furiously trying to forget all the people looking like broken dolls on the ground and all the tackling he had seen just yesterday morning, Sena walked to the locker room.

--

The stench was _terrible_. There were rotten bananas and apples and suspicious looking lunch bags with sweat-stained clothing thrown _everywhere _mixed with a high amount of American footballs. Hadn't it only been a week and a day since school had even started…? How had such a mess accumulated? Eyes beginning to tear because of the smell, Sena resolved to just hurry up and change.

Trying to find an empty locker proved fruitless, so Sena hurried to a relatively empty corner to change. Yamato-san had given him a jersey, but there were a whole lot of other things (relatively clean-looking), placed around the room as though begging to be used. Sena picked out a pair of pants and shoes easily (the smallest size), but was a bit lost on which protective gear to put on and how to put it on.

As he was trying to make his decision, a whole bunch of people began to come in the room, bringing boisterous laughter and a sense of claustrophobia. Boys flooded the room, and Sena nervously walked up to one who looked kind.

"Um, could you help me…?" Sena asked, motioning to the protective gear.

The boy looked from Sena to the gear and then to Sena again. He scratched his head. "You're a little small, aren't you? Are you a quarterback?" Sena slowly shook his head. Quarterback? What was that?

The boy nodded. "Ah, I see. Okay, here." He helped Sena put on the gear, told him where to get the helmets and wished him luck, apparently thinking Sena to be a new recruit. Sena gave a shaky thanks, not quite sure how else to respond.

As soon as Sena stepped outside Yamato called him over. He motioned to what looked like a setup for a race.

"I'm going to time you for a forty yard dash, Sena-kun, so please run from that line to the finish as fast as you can." Yamato said it while grinning, but the grin looked a little sharp to Sena. Like a waiting shark.

"A-all right…" Sena took a shaky breath. When Yamato gave the signal, he exploded off the start, sprinting to the finish. A few other people stopped to watch him run.

But Yamato was frowning at his watch as though it had lied to him. Sena wondered at that, panting a bit.

"Yamato-san…?" He asked timidly.

Yamato turned to him. "Five seconds," he muttered, still frowning. Then his expression suddenly cleared. He looked up and smiled at Sena. Sena wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

"Heracles-san!" Yamato called to someone. A large man jogged over, positively beaming with enthusiasm. "Could you time Sena-kun for me?" Yamato asked. The man frowned for a moment, and then Yamato said something and his expression cleared.

Yamato jogged over to Sena. "I'm sorry, Sena-kun, but could you run that again?" Sena nodded slowly. He still had almost no idea what was going on. As he stood at the start of the line, he saw Yamato take a few steps to stand directly behind him.

Yamato saw Sena send him a curious look. "I'm going to run behind you this time, so you'll have to outrun me, Sena-kun," he said cheerfully. Sena froze. In the silence he could hear Yamato pull his gloves on more securely. This was the man who had pushed through three people with only his hand. If he used more than just his hand… Sena gulped. He had a sudden vision of being splattered on the ground by a smiling Yamato. That smile was _evil_.

"Everything all right?" Sena heard Yamato ask him.

"Aha… ha…" Sena tried to laugh, but couldn't bring himself to ask Yamato if he was serious. Sena glanced behind him. Yamato was grinning, but he also looked determined. Sena swallowed. He didn't want to be tackled. He didn't want to be hurt.

The thick man gave the signal.

Right after the first step Sena knew that Yamato was behind him, dogging his steps. He was _fast._ But Sena's second step was fast too, just as quick as his first, and his next steps were fast, almost faster, tinged with desperation. _He would not be tackled._ Each step pushed off the ground explosively, thrusting him forward with a strain in his legs he couldn't find the time in his panicking mind to care about at the moment. Yamato was right behind him, probably grinning like a particularly vicious piranha, but the finish line was _right there_-- and then he was done.

Slowing down after the finish, Sena expected to feel Yamato's tackle, or even his one-handed push, but from right behind him Yamato merely tapped him on the back, like a congratulations. His hand felt hot.

A loud exclamation lifted Sena's head up to where people where slowly congregating around the man with the timer.

"I don't believe it! _Four point two! _He ran it in _four point two seconds!_"

Ouch, but his legs felt sore. Had it really been less than five seconds? His legs didn't hurt _that_ much, true, but he didn't feel like he could run at that speed for too long.

Sena realized with a start that the boy with long hair stood next to him. "So that's why," Sena heard him mutter. The boy looked down at Sena. "No wonder Yamato's taken an interest in you. He wants you to challenge him." Sena looked so horrified that the boy nearly snorted. "You're already faster than him. But can you surpass him, really…?" Without giving Sena time to furiously deny anything, he walked away.

Sena closed his mouth, realizing that the boy wouldn't hear his denials. Sena looked at the crowd of people surrounding the timer. He knew he was fast, but to surpass Yamato-san, who could probably push past twelve people with both hands…? And Sena might have gone faster than him on that forty yard dash, but he had felt Yamato behind him on every step. Yamato was _fast_, and strong.

Yamato walked over to him, smiling almost smugly but with a newly lit fire in his eyes. He looked at Sena. "Practice isn't over yet."

Timidly, Sena smiled back.

* * *

A/N: Yay, I finally finished it! It's not too great, but I did work hard on it and if anyone has any advice on how Sena or Yamato or anyone could sound better, I would love to hear it! Also, some trivia: Yamato sees Sena dodge/run twice before testing him on the 40yd dash, and Taka sees the same but one at a different time.

Also, LOTS OF THANKS TO SHINNIE (the Meanie) who got me into Eyeshield 21!

I'm thinking the next chapter will be either Yamato's version of things or the next installment of Sena-rising-the-ranks, or maybe even a Karin-friendship one. Who knows. But these are meant as one-shots/standalones in the same universe, and primarily as Teikoku friendship fics. I'm planning to do them chronologically, but I might change a few up. Still, I probably won't be able to update all too quickly. Anyway, thank you very much for reading!


End file.
